Goodman Fielder has reiterated its support for a $1.3 billion offer from Wilmar International and First Pacific after delivering a flat first-half profit result, with underlying net profit slipping 1 per cent to $29.7 million.

New Zealand packaging mogul Graeme Hart sold Swiss-based SIG Combibloc to private-equity firm Onex for $5.4 billion, the first in a series of asset sales to cut $20.8 billion in debt. Mr Hart has doubled his money on SIG, having bought it in 2007 for €1.7 billion.

Updated | Goodman Fielder’s chairman has been forced to defend the board’s recommendation of a $1.3 billion bid from Wilmar International and First Pacific but conceded uncertainty about whether it will proceed.

George Weston Foods is eyeing Goodman Fielder’s leading share of the $2 billion bread market after posting its best results in four years and entering a new era of growth that could include acquisitions.

Volatility has returned after a long period of eerie calm and Australian shares now skirt a technical correction after losing 8 per cent since September 2 – and fund managers say recent woes are far from over.

Goodman Fielder chief executive Chris Delaney said he wants to stay in the job if the breads and spreads maker is acquired by foreign suitors as he downplayed concerns over Woolworths move to cut bread prices.

Singapore oils trader Wilmar International and Hong-Kong investment company First Pacific will have another few months to assess the impact of ­$1-a-loaf bread and market share losses in margarine before proceeding with their $1.3 billion takeover of breads and spreads maker Goodman Fielder.

Updated | Goodman Fielder CEO Chris Delaney says a 17 per cent fall in underlying net profits and one-off costs in 2014 will not derail a $1.3 billion takeover offer from Wilmar International and First Pacific.

Advisers to Singapore oils trader Wilmar International and Hong Kong investment management company First Pacific are keeping a close eye on trading in Goodman Fielder, which is embroiled in what must qualify as one of Australia’s longest change-of-control transactions.

Retail and consumer goods companies which drive earnings growth through cost cutting rather than lifting sales are doomed to perform poorly in the long run, one of Australia’s most respected retail analysts has argued.

MallowPuffs, Gingernuts and Nice & Natural Bars could soon become consumer staples in Asia following the sale of New Zealand’s largest biscuit and snack foods maker, Griffin’s Foods, for $NZ700 million.

Australian shares shot higher after equity markets in the United States pushed to fresh record highs. The market maintained momentum despite disappointing data that showed Australia posted a trade deficit when a small surplus had been expected.

Singapore agribusiness group Wilmar International could walk away from its $1.4 billion joint bid for bread and spreads maker Goodman Fielder unless the board agrees to recommend a “watered down” offer.

Goodman Fielder chairman Steven Gregg is in a tight spot. He is under pressure to accept a lower offer price for the food group or face the prospect of Goodman’s two Asian suitors walking away at a time when the company is in bad shape.

Updated | Shareholders in Goodman Fielder have expressed disappointment as Singapore agribusiness group Wilmar International and Hong Kong investment management company First Pacific seek to reduce their offer price from 70¢ to around 67¢ or 68¢ a share.

$US504 billion worth of merger and acquisition deals have been struck globally this year, compared with $US142 billion for the same period last year. With action picking up in Australia as well, we take a look at which sectors and companies here are ripe for takeovers.

Pacific Equity Partners’ $1.1 billion bid for standards group SAI Global has fuelled chatter about a wave of acquisitions as private equity firms reinvest the proceeds from a spate of floats hitting the red hot IPO market.

Goodman Fielder major shareholder Perpetual Investments says it backed a sweetened $1.37 billion takeover bid for the iconic food giant because it represented appropriate value and “there was no tangible alternative to get a better price in the near term”.

One of the country’s most respected investment advisers says global financial markets are caught in a ‘monumental asset bubble’ which shows no sign of bursting while central banks continue to stimulate the economy.

Goodman Fielder has accepted a revised $1.37 billion takeover bid for the iconic food group after the board bowed to pressure from key shareholders who agreed to sell stakes in the company to the group’s Asian suitors.

Local and international fund managers agree that global equities are set to deliver better returns than the local market over the year ahead, but local managers are hopeful a flurry of initial public offerings could still excite the ASX.

Fund manager Ellerston Capital has increased its stake in former takeover target GrainCorp to 7.6 percent after selling down 18 months ago to pave the way for Archer Daniels Midland’s $3.4 billion takeover bid.

Parmalat may emerge as an interloper in Wilmar International and First Pacific’s $1.27 billion takeover bid for Goodman Fielder with the French-owned dairy group saying Goodman’s NZ assets are of “interest”.

It is highly unusual for a private equity firm to enter a takeover battle for a listed company. But Singaporean agribusiness Wilmar International could face competition in its $1.3 billion bid for Goodman Fielder.

Two of Goodman Fielder’s largest shareholders, Perpetual Investments and Ellerston Capital, are pushing the board of the consumer foods giant to grant bidders Wilmar International and First Pacific access to due diligence.

Consumer foods giant Goodman Fielder has been touted as a takeover target since its $2.1 billion float in 2005, but a $1.8 billion offer by Singapore oils trader Wilmar International and Hong Kong investment management company First Pacific has disappointed investors.

Wilmar International and First Pacific are under pressure to lift their $1.8 billion offer for Goodman Fielder after shares in the consumer foods giant exceeded the offer price in heavy trading on Tuesday.

Goodman Fielder’s already depressed share price fell further after informing the market its earnings before interest and tax for 2013-14 would be lower than advised when the company provided guidance in February.

Among the 21 companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange website, which are set to list with a total worth of more than $10 billion, are Dick Smith on Monday and Nine Entertainment Co, which lists on Friday.

Consumer foods company Goodman Fielder could close another seven plants in the next two years as part of a plan to boost earnings per share by 6 per cent and lift return on capital employed to at least 13 per cent.

Recruiters say there is an oversupply of high-quality CFO candidates and despite perceptions of improving conditions, including the return of initial public offerings, it’s a buyers market for companies looking to bolster the senior executive ranks.

Breads and spreads maker Goodman Fielder has dampened hopes for earnings growth in the first half of 2014, warning that profits this year will be “significantly” weighted towards the June half because of rising milk costs, pricing pressure and increased investment in marketing and innovation.

Retail giants and grocery manufacturers have asked the Abbott government to persuade state and local governments to slash red tape associated with trading hours, product labelling and retail land zoning.

A controversial star-rating system of food labelling proposed by the Federal Government doesn’t meet its own criteria for best practice in regulation as it wasn’t subjected to cost benefit analysis, according to an internal Finance Department ruling.

Food processor Goodman Fielder is seeking to protect recent margin gains in its New Zealand dairy business by lifting milk and dairy food prices by at least 5 per cent to recover higher farm-gate milk costs.

A string of downgrades ahead of the end of fiscal 2013 has not helped sentiment, but investors are confident that local companies are not poised to undershoot earnings expectations this reporting season.

Much will hinge on the success of Goodman Fielder’s revitalised strategy, and as such there will be a strong focus on the outlook statement provided in August when the food and beverage company delivers its full-year result.

Wilmar International, the Singapore-based agribusiness giant, is staying vague about its intentions for its 10.1 per cent stake in consumer foods company Goodman Fielder. Wilmar chairman Kuok Khoon Hong is reported to have said the company has no plans to sell its Goodman stake at current prices, however analysts say a sale may eventuate if share prices increase.

More than 3 per cent of Goodman Fielder’s shares have changed hands but market sources say Goodman’s largest shareholder, Singapore-based oil seeds group Wilmar International, was neither a buyer nor seller.

Wilmar International must be thanking its lucky stars it didn’t bite when CLSA and Macquarie Bank put together a group of investors and offered to buy the Singapore edible oils group’s 10.1 per cent stake in Goodman Fielder a few months ago.

Corporate Australia has caught the restructuring bug as companies reposition themselves for leaner times but the wave of cost-saving makeovers will defeat the purpose if service levels go down and prices go up.

It’s always encouraging to see non-executive directors buying shares in their companies, particularly after a 50 per cent rally. In the case of Goodman Fielder director Peter Hearl, who has snapped up 50,000 shares at 73¢, compared with a July low of 47¢, the on-market purchase is certain to raise questions about the intentions of major shareholder Wilmar International.

Exclusive | Few understand the daily battles between retailers and grocery suppliers better than manufacturer Simplot Australia’s managing director, Terry O’Brien, the new chairman of the Australian Food and Grocery Council. He wants to foster less adversarial relations and opposes home-brand caps being imposed on supermarkets.

Updated | Goodman Fielder has forecast stronger earnings in the June half and expects to resume paying dividends at the full year as it reaps the benefits of cost reductions and higher prices for bread and groceries.

One Top 10 list that has caught Street Talk’s eye is the “10 Best Bets for your Vulture Fund in 2013” from Citi’s hedge fund sales desk. Interestingly, the vulture list is similar to a lot of Top 10 M&A target lists doing the rounds.

Goodman Fielder chief Chris Delaney has been wooing back disillusioned investors by snaring bread price rises from retailers, slashing costs and selling non-core assets as part of a three-year plan to improve returns.

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26 November 2012 | PAGE 4 | More restraint as investors wield their new powers

A quarter of Australia’s top 300 bosses have been forced to drop or forgo their annual cash bonuses this year, with boards pushing executive pay into long-term shares and options to avoid investor protests.

George Weston Foods, Australia’s second largest baker, is lifting bread prices by around 5.6 per cent after convincing major retailers it can no longer absorb higher costs for wheat, energy and labour.

NZ entrepreneur Graeme Hart is under increasing pressure to accelerate debt reduction or restructure his global packaging company after Moody’s downgraded credit ratings on about $US18 billion of debt.

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05 September 2012 | PAGE 14 | More in store for Goodman Fielder as Wilmar looks to sell

Goodman Fielder shares remain well below the 60¢ a share that would-be suitor Wilmar claims to have offered the company earlier this year. But a sum-of-the-parts analysis by broker RBS suggests Goodman could be worth as much as 61¢ a share.

Goodman Fielder plans to close or sell plants, cull products, sell underperforming businesses and double spending on marketing and innovation as part of a three-year plan to restore profit growth and returns.

GrainCorp’s announcement it had paid $472m for Gardner Smith and the Goodman commercial fats and oils business Integro was the culmination of a complex deal that should leave all three parties licking their lips.

GrainCorp investors offered a solid endorsement of the company’s $472 million acquisition of Integro Foods and Gardner Smith, snapping up the institutional shortfall of the $159 million capital raising at $9.20 a share.